West Roxbury Democrats host Boston City Council at-large candidates

Tuesday

Jun 18, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 18, 2013 at 6:22 PM

About 40 people gathered in the West Roxbury Pub's function room Wednesday, June 12, passing up the chance to watch the Bruins ultimately lose to the Blackhawks, to hear from candidates for the four at-large seats on the Boston City Council.

Matt Robare/Wicked Local correspondent

About 40 people gathered in the West Roxbury Pub's function room Wednesday, June 12, passing up the chance to watch the Bruins ultimately lose to the Blackhawks, to hear from candidates for the four at-large seats on the Boston City Council.

“The City Council race is not getting a lot of light,” said John Cushing, chairman of the Ward 20 Democratic Committee.

The non-incumbent candidates were a mixture of novices and experienced politicians. Flaherty was an at-large councilor until 2009, when he resigned to run for Boston mayor and Saunders represented Roxbury on the Council from 1994-1997. Most have worked in city government and Soto and Kelly worked on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008 and served as delegates to the Democratic National Convention

In order to let everyone speak without forcing attendees to miss too much of the Bruins game, Cushing held everyone to 5 minutes. He asked the candidates to introduce themselves to the audience and talk about why they had decided to run.

“It takes 14 of us to move Boston forward,” Murphy said, referring to the 13 councilors and the mayor. “We try to satisfy every need in every neighborhood in the City of Boston.”

Murphy emphasized his record of supporting public safety. He said that he had worked to get money from the federal government to make sure that the different agencies and departments could communicate with one another, something he said paid off for first responders after the Marathon bombings. He also talked about the importance of continuing to make Boston an attractive place where people could live and do business.

“There's so much I can talk about, so much good that we do,” Murphy said. “This is a city on the move.”

“I want to thank you for your civic engagement,” Pressley said to the gathering. “You make your community what it is.”

Her two main policy points were providing trauma services to victims of the Marathon bombings and working with the General Court to lift the cap on liquor licenses for restaurants. She also said she wanted to make people more aware about “predatory for-profit” colleges. She said that people could now complain to a consumer affairs agency, but, “All that means is that you've got someone to call after you've been robbed,” she said.

Philip Frattaroli, a candidate from and owner of Ducali Pizzeria and Bar in the North End, said he was hoping to reduce the bureaucracy and regulations entrepreneurs have to go through to open a business in Boston. He experienced the red tape himself, he said, when he was trying to open his restaurant.

“We need to make it easier to pursue the American Dream,” he said.

Flaherty, an attorney from South Boston, said that with Mayor Thomas Menino retiring, it was an “opportunity for the Council to serve as an equal partner in government.”

He said that he was pro-development, but was concerned about making sure the whole city gets its fair share of development. Like Frattaroli he was also concerned about the bureaucracy and suggested that there be a “one-stop shop” for permitting.

“This is in my blood,” he said. “I'm prepared, I'm a guy who rolls up his sleeves.”

“I'm going to try to help people who get taken out with the trash because they don't have a job,” O'Neill, a playwright from Dorchester, said.

Keogh, a West Roxbury attorney, said that his focus was education and lowering school dropout rates. Conroy, a community organizer from Roxbury, was also focused on education and talked about bringing the resources of Boston into schools to build community and improve them.

Saunders echoed Murphy's focus on public safety and the other candidates' focus on education. He said that with the new school district plan attempting to revive neighborhood schools, it was more important than ever to make sure that all the schools do well.

“It's good to be in a room where there are more residents than candidates,” Wu said.

She said she was interested in supporting small businesses and making Boston a better place for families.

Soto said it was important to help people from Boston's schools stay in college when they get there, because they often have difficulty transitioning from high school. He also said that he wanted to set up business hubs in every neighborhood. “I want to be an advocate for everyone,” he said.

Whelan, an Irish immigrant who has lived in Boston for 26 years, including the past 17 in West Roxbury, and works as a registered nurse, was running as a socialist alternative candidate. “I'm tired of politics as usual,” he said. “I think the whole system is corrupted.”

He said that he would campaign to support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and wanted to make the School Committee, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the MBTA Board elected bodies.

Jack Kelly talked about his life, how he ended up living in a homeless shelter because of an Oxycontin addiction and didn't really get his life in order until he got a job as an ironworker building International Place. He said treating and preventing addiction would be his priorities.

Finally, Jed Hresko, daughter Kiki on his arm, said he was an advocate for shared parenting. “We take men who do want to be at the table and make it difficult for them.”

A number of other politicians were present, including current District 5 Councilor and mayoral candidate Rob Consalvo, West Roxbury Councilor Matt O'Malley and Luis Valerio, who is challenging O’Malley for the District 6 seat.

“It's a talented group of candidates,” O'Malley said of the people running for the at-large seats. “It's going to be a spirited race.”

Eight other people are running for the at-large seats, according to the City of Boston Elections Department: Frank Addivinola, from the West End; Althea Garrison, from Dorchester; Annissa Essaibi George, from Dorchester; Gene Gorman, from Dorchester; Keith Kenyon, from South Boston; Jeffrey Ross, from the South End; Francisco White, from East Boston; and Douglas Wohn, from Jamaica Plain.